Reading 1 2 Pt 1:2-7
May grace and peace be yours in abundance
through knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
His divine power has bestowed on us
everything that makes for life and devotion,
through the knowledge of him
who called us by his own glory and power.
Through these, he has bestowed on us
the precious and very great promises,
so that through them you may come to share in the divine nature,
after escaping from the corruption that is in the world
because of evil desire.
For this very reason,
make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue,
virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control,
self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion,
devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love.
Responsorial Psalm PS 91:1-2, 14-15b, 15c-16
You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
Say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
R. In you, my God, I place my trust.
Because he clings to me, I will deliver him;
I will set him on high because he acknowledges my name.
He shall call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in distress.
R. In you, my God, I place my trust.
I will deliver him and glorify him;
with length of days I will gratify him
and will show him my salvation.
R. In you, my God, I place my trust.
Alleluia See Rv 1:5ab
Jesus Christ, you are the faithful witness,
the firstborn of the dead;
you have loved us and freed us from our sins by your Blood.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel Mk 12:1-12
Jesus began to speak to the chief priests, the scribes,and the elders in parables.
“A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it,
dug a wine press, and built a tower.
Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey.
At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants
to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard.
But they seized him, beat him,
and sent him away empty-handed.
Again he sent them another servant.
And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully.
He sent yet another whom they killed.
So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed.
He had one other to send, a beloved son.
He sent him to them last of all, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’
But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’
So they seized him and killed him,
and threw him out of the vineyard.
What then will the owner of the vineyard do?
He will come, put the tenants to death,
and give the vineyard to others.
Have you not read this Scripture passage:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?”
They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd,
for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them.
So they left him and went away.
LOVING YOUR CHILD'S MURDERERS
"It was the Lord Who did it and we find it marvelous to behold." –Mark 12:11
The owner of a vineyard sent slave after slave "to the tenants to obtain from them his share of produce from the vineyard" (Mk 12:2). "Some they beat; some they killed. He still had one to send – the son whom he loved. He sent him to them as a last resort, thinking, 'They will have to respect my son' " (Mk 12:5-6). "Then they seized and killed him and dragged him outside the vineyard" (Mk 12:8). The owner of the vineyard seems astoundingly naive for continuing to send slaves to almost certain beatings or death and then send his own son to be killed.
In this allegory, the owner of the vineyard represents God the Father. He sent prophet after prophet to turn us away from our sins. Almost all of these prophets were rejected. Many were murdered. Then God the Father sent His Son. Unlike the owner of the vineyard in the allegory, God the Father knew for certain that His Son, Jesus, would be tortured, nailed to a cross, and murdered. Nevertheless, He sent Jesus so that all could be saved from sin and death, and somewould be saved.
If you knew a person would be party to killing your child, would you send your child to him? Would you create a person whom you knew would drive a nail into your child or imbed a thorn into his head? God the Father did this when He created each one of us and sent His Son, Jesus, to save us. Why did He do this? "God is Love" (1 Jn 4:16).
| PRAYER: | Father, may the love from the Spirit impel me (2 Cor 5:14). May I love others without counting the cost. |
| PROMISE: | "He has bestowed on us the great and precious things He promised, so that through these you who have fled a world corrupted by lust might become sharers of the divine nature." –2 Pt 1:4 |
| PRAISE: | After a long struggle, Jane finally accepted God's forgiveness for aborting her daughter. |
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